Early Retirement Extreme Forums

I installed new blackout blinds in the bedroom. They work really well! Unfortunately, we also like to sleep with our windows open when we can. And in the good ol Midwest USA, it can get really windy.

These blinds have a strip of plastic at the bottom that bangs against the wall when the wind picks up. It's driving me nuts.

We tried getting cheap little velcro strips to hold the blind to the windowsill. They have adhesive on one side and velcro on the other. But that didn't work. The adhesive doesn't stick well to the wood, and the velcro part sticks too well to the blinds. It'd be a hassle to get on and off each time.

I kind of want to just hack off the plastic part at the bottom of the blinds so that there's nothing to bang, but my wife is looking for a more elegant solution.

Any ideas?

Uh... nope. Basically you need to construct a light baffle, like going into a darkroom. Either that or shut the window or open the blind.

Weighting down or tying down the end of the blinds won't work because then the sides of the blinds will just luff in the wind, like a sail on a boat.

Thanks guys. I will think about fastening the plastic part down. I'd much prefer luffing to banging.

@ffj yep, they are made of cloth.

Command Adhesive interlocking strips work great. Kinda like Velcro, but stronger, and both sides are identical. The adhesive side is strong, as is the interlocking side.

I haven't used it for your particular application, but it's the first thing I'd try.

Do the windows belong to you or are you a renter?
If you don't mind putting small holes into the window frame you could screw in small hooks (the ones I have are formed like a "r"). I have the "nose" of the r pointed downwards, to hold rings I've sewn onto the blinds. Our window is parted in the middle so I have 2 blinds, and 2 rings on the outer edges of each blind.
The hooks are placed in a way that the blinds are pulled down pretty tightly. I suppose it might hold with high quality adhesive hooks as well.

I have my blinds on the inside of the movable part of the window, but it should in theory work as well with your setup. You could install the hooks on the outside of your window frame.

@horsewoman, I own the house, so I can get as wild as I want with this Thanks for the suggestions. I'm going to try @Chris's solution and report back.

Chris wrote: ↑

Sun May 17, 2020 8:25 pm

Command Adhesive interlocking strips work great.

I tried a version of these and they work great. Thanks Chris! (and everyone else)